Abdennour Abbas
Abdenour Abbas, a young Kabyle researcher designing a new detection method for medical diagnostics
Abdennour Abbas, a 33-year-old Kabyle Bioengineering from Makouda (Kabylia) has developed ultrasensitive biosensors based on artificial antibodies intended for medical diagnoses “at home”. The technology consists of sweat, urine or blood testing to diagnose diseases. He designed this new detection method which is already successfully tested in his laboratory at the University of Washington in St. Louis (USA).
Abbas began his studies at the University of Tizi-Ouzou (Kabylia) before being trained at the University of Lille (France) where he also earned a doctorate in materials science and engineering.
The system developed by Abbas is based on the creation and use of artificial antibodies that ‘print’ on the surface of gold nanoparticles. These nanostructures have thus receptors capable of recognizing a virus, bacteria, and antigens. In the presence of pathogens, these nanostructures self-assemble and induce, by their movement, a color change of the sample showing the user a positive result. The most impressive aspect of the technology designed by Abbas is that it is a billion times more sensitive than previous paper-based sensors, allowing the detection of pathogens in the early stages of infection.
According to the young Kabyle researcher, his system, extremely versatile “is capable of capturing any infectious agent ” provided to adjust the artificial antibodies to the target disease. The goal: making biosensors “popular” devices, avalable “in any pharmacy”. Given the state of decay of medical infrastructure in Kabylia, also virtually non-existent, as is the case with many abandoned Amazigh regions. It is hoped that Kabylia will benefit of his work beacause in Algeria, the only thing produced consistently is terrorists!